This invention relates to portable baskets and merchandising bins, and more particularly, to a basket assembly in which a plurality of baskets can be stacked upon each other for displaying merchandise and can be collapsed and nested within each other for storage.
Over the years a variety of stackable and/or nestable baskets, bins, trays and other containers have been developed, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,931,535, 2,252,964, 2,554,232, 2,646,186, 2,662,662, 2,736,453, 3,211,326, 3,089,643, 3,409,163, 3,481,507, 3,061,025, 3,622,031 and 3,704,791.
Furthermore, over the years various baskets, bins, trays and other containers have been developed, some of which are stackable and/or nestable, others of which are not, with hinged end walls or endwise handles that pivot to a knockdown collapsed position. Typifying these baskets, bins, and containers are those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,985,332, 2,747,748, 3,523,694, 3,627,163, 3,762,593, 4,015,743, 4,106,626 and 4,113,131.
These prior art baskets, bins and containers have met with varying degrees of success.
One type of stackable and nestable basket which is particularly advantageous is known as the Vendall system and is shown and described in Von Stein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,836 assigned in Unarco Industries, Inc. The prior art Vendall system, however, only permits two baskets to be nested within each other at a time.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved stacking and nesting basket assembly.